They assert the Supreme Court nominee is too extreme and could strip constitutional rights from many politically weak groups
indica Washington Bureau
Senator Kamala Harris., and US representatives Pramila Jayapal and Raja Krishnamoorthi are among the Indian American lawmakers who have announced they’re to oppose the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justice.
“Brett Kavanaugh represents a fundamental threat to the promise of justice and equality, which is why I am announcing that I will oppose his nomination to the Supreme Court,” Harris, the Indian-origin senator from California, told her supporters in an email.
Harris declared her opposition soon after President Donald Trump announced Kavanaugh as his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
“He is too extreme and will shift the balance of the court for a generation,” Harris said. “As a replacement to Justice Kennedy, he presents an existential threat to our rights and to the health care of millions of Americans.”
According to Jayapal, Kavanaugh comes from a roster of extremists approved by right-wing organizations committed to pushing a regressive agenda.
“This appointment is the most momentous in a generation and it will affect historic decisions made for the next half-century,” she said. “We can’t let that time be defined by partisan rulings that hurt our communities and strip away our rights.”
As a member of the US House of Representative, Jayapal has no role in the nomination process, confirmation coming from the Senate. But she and other Indian Americans are planning to build public opinion against the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh, who currently is a circuit judge at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“When it comes to protecting workers, women, people of color, immigrants and anyone who is worried about their constitutional rights being taken away, the Supreme Court is our last line of defense,” Jayapal said, adding that people deserved nominees who could judge cases with an open mind, without having a political agenda and, ultimately, justly.
“I’m incredibly concerned that Kavanaugh does not meet even this basic qualification, and I don’t believe he is able to defend justice for all people. I wholly oppose this nomination and I encourage my colleagues to do the same,” Jayapal said.
According to Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is cause for concern.
The next justice to join the court will be in a position to uphold or overturn key rulings preserving reproductive rights, access to affordable health care for all Americans, and legal protections preventing discrimination against our LGBTQ friends, relatives, and neighbors, he said.
“In light of Judge Kavanaugh’s record on the bench and in legal scholarship, I find his nomination deeply disturbing,” Krishnamoorthi said.
“From Linda Brown (Brown vs Board of Education, the case that stopped overt segregation in schools) to James Obergefell (Obergefell vs Hodges, in which the court cleared the way for gay marriage), millions of Americans have depended on the Supreme Court to uphold their rights and protect them from discrimination,” he said.
“The Senate must ensure that Judge Kavanaugh will commit to preserving, protecting, and upholding those hard-won Constitutional rights, and reject his nomination if he would turn his back on them,” Krishnamoorthi said.
